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Leading Cutting Edge of BBQ

Cutting Edge

What is the cutting edge Frontier of BBQ?

BBQ consists of these steps as we know them now.

Trim

Brine

Marinade

Inject

Rub/Dry Marinade

Cook Open

Wrap, Braised

Sauce

Glaze, Set the Glaze

Chop, Display

Serve

What is the cutting edge in BBQ in each step?

Trim – Better utensils, the common knife is always the base of all trimming but with Qwik Trim coming out it opens the door for more innovation. The challenge in trimming is to come up with a system that will take thin barriers off without losing a great deal of meat.

Brine – How can we cross the membrane barriers with a brine. Osmotic pressure is one way but non polar molecules is perfect. Oil based flavoring agents are the cutting edge here. Julia Davison made this point on the radio show. But muscles are more water base than oil but the membranes are non-poplar. Carrier molecules is on answer. Molecules that will attach until over the barrier then de-attach once the flavoring agent is at the site of action.

Marinades – some people say they don’t work. We have got more champions marinading, spritzing, basting, and mopping. The fluid on the surface causes fluid to stay in the meat. Non polar spritzing, basting and mopping sauces will penetrate collagen. Flavoring agents are usually salts, polar molecules we need to package them in surface acting agents and create a non polar molecule that will cross these barrier and release inside the meat.

Inject – Injectors are pretty good these days but what are we injecting? Polar salty substances that will cover a striation of muscle but not penetrate it. Some proteins are polar. Some proteins hold a lot of water. Delivery systems in the injection to cross over into the muscle striation is the cutting edge of new BBQ technology we need. Injections are effective but can be made more effective with a delivery system. See below

Rub/Dry Marinade – Rubs are salty, sweet, big particles, green plant particles, cinnamon, all kinds of stuff. They are very effective enough to really cancel out the need for the bone any more. The challenge for rubs is real simple. We need rubs able to penetrate meat all the way through. If we had a delivery system set up where a rub could start on the outside of a piece of meat and penetrate all the way to the center we would have no need for several of these other steps. Crossing the barriers is the #1 cutting edge for rubs.

Cook open – they say that meat in an open chamber that is being smoke only accepts smoke for 20 minutes. Tender Quick (nitrates) on beef will extend that all the way to the whole time if you put enough in it. Having a device that can measure the exact amount of smoke and the percentage wanted vs percentage gained is the cutting edge of Open Cooking. If we could come up with a device like a BBQ Guru that would measure where your at and set an alarm for where you want to be. We could set different levels of smoke for sale at a restaurant.

Brisket Memorial Day 2016

Wrap – if you cook low and slow you may not have to wrap. But if you wrap, if you had a substance that would add the flavor you want to a precise degree that would be the cutting edge of this stage. A substance that added the right amount of coating, flavor, substances to the exterior and interior to the right degree in a commonly known item to purchase. That is the cutting edge of this stage.

Sauce – Sauces are made by the thousands. Sauce is made from all sorts of bases and mixtures of sugar, salt, vinegar, tomato, mustard, mayonnaise, corn syrup, and a whole bunch of seasonings. The problem with sauce is action under heat. They call some sauces grilling sauce and they turn just as black under extended heat as any other sauce. Sauce has always been added at the end but under low and slow it could be used the whole time if its low enough. The cutting edge of sauce is, low sugar but still sweet, sugar that doesn’t burn (Demerara) or something new, holds the flavor under heat (this is the big one). Sauces tend to break down under extended heat. A sauce that was as good as it was went it went into the cooker 4 hours later at 300 F would be a cutting edge success.

Glaze – Texas Red Pepper Jelly, glaze has always been a great finishing touch. Pepper Jelly, Honey, Regular Jelly, Agave Nectar a whole lot of stuff like that. What is the cutting edge improvement? I can’t think of any! Glaze has been perfected.

Chop – Display – Presentation – Sky is the limit. Close circuit camera, I went to NBBQA and The Shed did a butcher of a whole cow. They hired a man to take a close circuit camera to show the up close of what he was doing. If the event is big enough a camera on the BBQ close up is a blast. Imagine live time people watching the best looking ribs being cut up while they are in line. You in line and know your going to be there to get yours soon.

1 hr in @250 F

That would increase sales.

Serving – Sky is the limit. Pre-printed paper of all types is nice. Cuts of meat in hand easy pieces. Control the mess. Don’t control the mess. utensil special for the eat. Meat is expensive controlling portions mean profit. When I was in the Army we would take a plane to where ever and on the plane they gave us what looked like a little box of food. When we opened it, piping hot chicken, beans in a Styrofoam Cup, french fries, coleslaw, and two cookies. BBQ can be done the same way. Another avenue is big plates, big price, big satisfaction, the bigger the better with a lot of sides. Fast access and fast satisfaction is key. Visual, physical, experiential, afterwards. Its a 3 step process.

Injection – every muscle is its own bag of water. The bag is encapsulated in membranes made of collagen. These membranes are non polar and salt that is polar will not change pass through them. Unless a flavoring agent comes in contact with the substance it is going to flavor no change can occur.

Trans-Dermal System – Trans-Dermal Systems are available in many sectors why not in BBQ. Collagen, skin, membranes have already been crossed we need to adapt that technology to our flavoring agents. In liquid form of course.

This technology in this picture breaks through the toughest membrane of all the skin. It also breaks through collagen and muscle. If we could find a technology to deliver rubs and injections the same way we could take flavoring to a new level.

A Boston Butt is almost impossible to flavor on the inside. The amount of barriers between the 16 muscles that make up a Boston Butt have a collagen barrier between each one. Most people settle for flavoring the outside and upon serving use sauce to flavor the inside. We can do better than this.

Ribs – are a thin piece of meat and one reason they are so loved is the ease of flavoring. Smoke penetrates it and rubs do a good job of flavoring Ribs.

Chicken – is good with injecting. What if we could put a rub on the skin and that rub were to carry all the way through the breasts, thighs, and legs. We can do this with the right technology. I seen a man in Texas who came out with a soak. Then he went over and asked for a sponsorship from an injection company. Kosmo Pork Soak has been said by many to be ineffective. I found that soaking and injecting the night before then re-injecting the next day is very effective.

Viscosity is an answer. If you can make your injections thicker so it will stay at the site of action longer when the cook begins. Some people mix their injections with vegetable oilor canola oil. Thickening agents for injections and brine maybe and easier answer. But penetration is the truth.